Archive for the ‘klaus mann’ Category

time to recommend some further reading, related to what i posted and what i will post. and also to give some feeling to how it was before, before the big cut of the second world war. also with the intention to maybe follow some of these lines from way back to today… and yes, i have to smile, they are all, eer, gay-themed. the last one amazingly frank, actually…

the obvious choice is christoph isherwoods goodbye berlin. and yes, it has been an inspiration for the musical and film cabaret. well well – the book is better. sorry, liza… and isherwood is always recommended, anyway… and yes, goodbye berlin might be a good starting point to get into the history of the weimarer republik, its culture, but also to get into the work of mister isherwood.

second i do recommend a book written in the twenties but published much later. a book which draws a fascinating picture of germany between the wars. and it is about the body: the temple, which gave stephen spender‘s book the title… i remember having it read with a lot of enjoyment. the stuck up brit and the golden, young germans withouth worries…and it’s funny, it will always remind me of a golden summer in amsterdam…

but then one that really amazed me – i have to admit i did read it only lately, is the first novel by klaus mann: der fromme tanz. written at the tender age of 19 it is quite shocking, actually. most people describe the crowd in the book as bohème – i’d rather use demi-monde… it explores the topics of art in a big sense – the art of / for a generation, the search, or rather the recognizing of love – be it in its most abstract, be it in its most carnal. it is really a quite amazing little book. at the same time it is also interesting to read about the cabarets, the shady bars, the coked up hustlers…

i also recommend to research all three author’s lifes a little bit – and yes, this time wikipedia isn’t a bad place to start.

allright, for the ones less into reading i do have some music. well, not me exactly, but zakkorama does. presenting a “little” series of german popular music especially from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. some artist already have shown up here on this blog, some will still show up… start here with part 1 and 2 – and then you’ll find under june the other parts – including a bonus at the end. and don’t forget to say thank you!

Internals

update: for the moment no re-ups will be made as i do not have any access to my archive.
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